Pickle may not be the favorite with everyone especially those with a sweet-tooth. But it is an essential item on the menu, whether it is the North or South India. In the south especially no meal is complete without rounding it up with some curd rice and pickle. To reiterate, it can be a no-no with those who cannot stomach spice; but with those who can, you have before you a widespread and wonderful array of pickles to pick and choose from and they might even prove to be a good substitute to homemade pickles. Of course, if you have the time and the inclination and the skill to make pickles at home, there can be nothing better than that. While going down the memory lane, I can still recall how my landlady used to whip up interesting and mouthwatering pickles by using some of the winter vegetables, like cauliflower, turnip, carrot, ginger and the like that used to flood the market. We used to make short-shrift of it as it tasted fantastic with hot "parathas" and ended up dreamily licking our fingers! Readymade pickles are just fine but all said and done the homemade pickles have got their own enduring flavor. Today, we rely very much on the readymade fare as we are pretty pressed for time and pickle making is a tedious affair. However, you can be spoilt for choice as different pickle brands are vying with each other to provide the authentic taste to get as close as possible to the homemade experience. Here, I would like to mention the "Avakkai" or the mango pickle by " Priya" which comes closest to the authentic. It offers the taste of Andhra Pradesh where it is had with hot ghee and rice. "777" is yet another brand and personally I feel their( "Mahaani") or Sarasaparella root pickle could be their best. Another option is "Mambalam Iyers". They offer a wide variety of pickles and "thokku" in compact bottles, so, you don't get tired of your bottle of pickle and start to crave for something new. Talking about the new and the exotic, I feel I have to share my experience of having tasted a bottle of mushroom pickle. It was so good that before we could say Jack Robinson the pickle was history. It had found its way onto the kitchen shelf all the way from Himachal Pradesh and now we do happen to have a legitimate excuse to make a trip to Shimla! Citron and Pudhina are other varieties that you can try if you are not a conservative. So, it is not possible for me to enumerate all the brands in the market but I believe I have given a fair idea of what is possible. It is really upto us to explore and cull out the interesting and the new.
